Adjustable hat crease retainer



NOV. 27, 1951 MANlGLiA 2,576,690

ADJUSTABLE HAT GREASE RETAINER Filed July 20, 1948 INVENIOR. CLUSEPPB MANIGUA.

Patented Nov. 27, 951

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ADJUSTABLE HAT GREASE RETAINER Giuseppe Maniglia, New York, N. Y.

Application July 20, 1948, Serial No. 39,767

1 Claim.

This invention relates to hat formers.

More particularly the present invention relates to new and useful improvements in devices for placement in the interior of a soft hat having a crown to be creased and/or indented to set the crown to a desired shape, as, for instance, that characteristic of a fedora hat.

Devices aimed at fortifying a hat crown shape have been heretofore proposed for use interiorly of the hat; some having elements to be set in the hat both at the front and rear ends thereof,

tion to be nested between the hat body and the sweat-band on the inside of the hat. These, however, have not found favor, due to the fact that their lower portions have been of such width and stiffness as to inflexibly distort the hats head opening. So serious has this defect been found to be that, with the thought that interposition of a part of the device between the hat body and the sweat-band must necessarily materially decrease the size of the head opening, it has even been proposed to provide a device so formed that the bottom thereof is above the top of the sweat-band when the device is placed inside the hat and secured in its intended location by barbs or the like carried at various points on the device. point entirely, because the decrease of hat size effected by interposition of a part of the device between the hat body and the sweat-band may be made such as to be negligible, but, on the contrary, the difficulty arises from the above referred to stifliy maintained distortion of the head opening.

A particular object of the present invention is to provide a device, of very simple construction and of trifling cost to manufacture, and having a lower member to be inserted between the hat body and the sweat-band, but with such lower member so constituted that the hat body at the crown opening is freely flexible between the lateral limits of said lower member. This result is obtained by forming the lower member to have a pair of downwardly extending legs, of slight width and with a greater spacing therebetween than such width. These legs are dependent from a thin sheet material member of which the low- This last proposal missed the s er member is formed and which, in broad terms, may be described as being of inverted U-shape.

According to another feature of the present invention, the crease-fortifying upper member of the device is a separate piece of thin sheet material, adjustably supported on the bottom member of the device.

Each of the two members of the new device may be of thin metal, as aluminum, or of plastic or of other suitable material; preferably one slightly elastically biased to certain surface curvatures, but nevertheless readily pliable; and in order not to impede ventilation and to lighten weight, either or both of said members may be perforated at various points.

It is a further object of this invention to construct a hat former which is simple and durable, which may be manufactured and sold at a nominal cost, and which may be quickly and easily inserted in position within a hat.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and. accompanying drawings, and to the appended claim in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. 1 is a frontal perspective view, showing a familiar type of soft hat with its crown fully distended; and showing, in broken lines, a now favored embodiment of the invention in place in the hat preparatory to giving the hat crown the desired creasings and indentations.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational perspective View of said hat, showing the parts as in Fig. 1, but with certain desired crease and indentation lines indicated in dot and dash.

Fig. 3 shows the hat of Figs. 1 and 2, on the head of a wearer, with the device of the invention in place therein, and with the area-sings and indentations of the crown completed.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view .of said embodiment, looking towardthe side thereof facing the interior of the hat crown.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of said embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the upper member, per se.

The hat former, according to the present invention, includes a lower member I 0 and an upper member ll.

The lower member ID is, broadly expressed, of U-shaped outline, having fairly slender legs l2. While these legs at their bottoms are of less width than the space therebetween at the bottom of the member 10, they are even further apart and further slenderized as they extend up toward the bowl 14 of the U. The legs [2 as shown are somewhat bowed, in the sense in which the term bowlegs is used in reference to the two lower human limbs. Therefore, as will be noted, the member Ill is of horse-shoe like outline.

On the member l0, laterally of the U-bowl I4, is a strap l5 rearwardly struck out therefrom, to provide a vertical passageway at the side of said member to face the interior of the hat crown.

The upper member H has a main upper section l6 from the bottom edge of which, midway of the side edges thereof, there depends a single straight vertical leg I8.

The strap l5 and the leg l8 are so relatively shaped that said leg is slidable up and down relative to the vertical passageway behind the strap IE, but with sufficient friction between these parts to have the leg 18 tend to remain held by the strap l5 in any adjustment of the leg l8 relative to the strap to vary the elevation of the top of the member ll above the bottoms of the legs l2 of the member I0.

The top of the member I I, longitudinally thereof, is rounded and also is laterally curled over, as shown best in Figs. 4 to 6, toward the side of the device opposite the side thereof to face the interior of the hat crown, and, as shown best in Fig. 5, the bowl I4 of the member [0 is laterally arched so as to present at such bowl and down along the legs [2, at the side of the device to face the hat crown, a convexity close to that of the natural interior concavity of the hat crown at and across the front thereof.

The terms forwardly and rearw'ardly as used herein refer, respectively, to directions toward the hat crown and to directions toward the hat crown interior.

The upper member I] is formed with spaced holes l9 and the lower member [0 is formed with holes 20 to reduce the weight of the members and to permit and facilitate ventilation when the former is in position in the hat.

With the members I0 and H relatively adjusted by way of the leg 18 and strap Hi to the over-all height appropriate to the kind and size of hat crown of the hat to which the device is to be applied, the bottoms of the legs I2 are inserted between the inside of the crown 2| of the hat 22 and its sweat-band 23, as indicated in Figs. 1

and 2. Now the crown 22 can be given or have restored to it, its top longitudinal creasings 24 and its side indentations one of which is indicated at 25, with the certainty that these formations will thereafter be fortified as such at the front of the hat. With such creasings and indentations thus fortified for retention as such at the front of .the hat, they will be retained in position all alon the hat to the rear thereof; it being well-known that repeated doffings and donnings of the hat, either by way of grasp at its brim or crown at the front of the hat, is the reason why a soft hat so often becomes misshapen because of disturbance of the creasings and/or indentations at the front of the hat.

The new device is laterally freely flexible over the entirety of the heights of each of the upper and lower members I l and I0 thereof. The spacing between the legs I2, the greater spacing therebetween at about midway of height of the member ID, and the small width of either leg [2 where inserted between the hat crown and the sweat-band, gives full flexibility to the lower member so as not to interfere with the flexibility of the forehead-embracing portion of the hat at the head opening. The member In may be of minute thickness, and so cannot measurably affect the size of the head opening.

The upper member I I is of greater width than height, and at its bottom has two upwardly extending V-shaped notches 26, so as to render the upper member ll freely bendable to conform to the shape of the front portion of the hat on the inside of the crown.

The former is particularly valuable for use in fortifying the shaped contours of the crown of a hat of the so-called Hamburg type as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3.

It is to be understood that this device is preferably placed between the hat lining and the hat body and secured there in any suitable manner.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise construction herein disclosed and the right is reserved to all changes and modifications coming within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

A device for the purpose described, comprising upper and lower sheet material members, said lower member being substantially of inverted U- shaped outline, a horizontally disposed strap struck from said lower member closely adjacent its top edge and midway of its side edges, said upper member being wider than high, a leg depending from the bottom edge of said upper member midway of its side edges, said leg being frictionally engaged between the adjacent faces of said strap and the body of said lower member adjustably connecting said members together, and means for rendering said upper member flexible in a lateral direction, said means comprising inverted V-shaped notches extended upward from the bottom edge of said upper member on opposite sides of said leg.

GIUSEPPE MANIGLIA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file .of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,696,047 Martin Dec. 18, 1928 2,178,860 Knibloe Nov. 7, 1939 2,450,084 Lev Sept. 28, 1948 

